By Dr. J. Ester Davis
My whole life changed in 1974 when I left for Rochester, New York, and a new position with the Eastman Kodak Company. I was hired in 1972 and stayed at home, working in the Dallas-area locations. Rochester was indeed a whole new ‘country’ because there was still snow on the ground in early Spring. There were heated sidewalks and deer that roamed the campuses.
From that year on, I spent four(4) to twelve (12) weeks in Rochester, mostly in class at the Marketing Education Center with a dress code. On weekends, we were free to roam anywhere, including Canada. It was on one of those weekends in the city at the “Black Fashion Museum” that I met Tony Brown. Tony Brown kept up with ‘all things black’. Before the 1980’s, J. Morris Anderson, founder of the Miss Black America Pageant, Inc., started the company because his young daughter wanted to be a beauty queen. That company soared to nationwide status. I was invited to the nationals in Los Angeles… and so was Tony Brown. The Miss Black America Pageant received a substantial advertising boost from Avon Corporation, contributing to its many years of success.
In 1982, Tony Brown gave President Reagan a platform request for African Americans in his administration. Not sure about his timing, but he had a master plan to run for President of the United States to get the attention of African Americans. The plan for that experience was to start with the 150 noted black conventions. Tony did a strategic line item study of these conventions held each year at a luxurious hotel resort, and the activity surrounding preparation was all detailed in his timeline, scaled at retail cost, I might add. The common-sense approach, according to the legendary crusader, was to omit the conventions for one year. Place the sum of the funds in a financial institution and watch it grow.
In 1989, Dallas writer Charles O’Neal wrote an article about ABRO (Alliance of Black Retail Owners). ABRO was a nationwide “buying service” for small black boutiques. But along the way, students joined tours of the fashion industry. Prairie View’s Department of Fashion Design was the first department to request inclusion. After some research, I saw a need to unite these small businesses… to become more competitive while enjoying a happy romance with that bottom line. Diane Fuller, owner of an upscale boutique in Houston, had an unmatched clientele of AME worshipers from her town to Los Angeles… Bishops worldwide: We registered several boutiques with this resume.
Another favorite story I just have to squeeze in. Now, retired Judge Alan Page, who played and graduated from Notre Dame in 1967, wanted 5th graders to read. It came to pass after a scribbled proposal written on a napkin. Alan Page announced a 10-city tour speaking directly to inner-city 5th graders about reading. But, of course, Dallas had to be on that list. And black reading was a ‘hot topic’ on Tony Brown’s Journal.
More importantly, Professor Brown was indeed the Executive Producer of Tony Brown’s Journal when public affairs was true to its creed and intentions. Tony Brown finally came to Texas for the Coca-Cola ‘Black Expo USA’, hanging out with the models backstage at the Convention Center and me. He was a speaker at one of the three Black Enterprise Conferences held in Dallas. What a pleasure to have known such a talent…for all of us.
Esterdavis2000@gmail.com
